


The Persian Slipper Reads The Blog

by The_Persian_Slipper



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: John Watson's Blog, M/M, Sherlock Meta
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2020-02-27 10:06:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18736876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Persian_Slipper/pseuds/The_Persian_Slipper
Summary: This is my ongoing series where I read John's blog and share my thoughts with you. Each chapter is a little analysis of things I notice. My original posts can be found on Tumblr under @thepersianslipper. Please drop by to read the amazing comments from other users,





	1. Not really his area

Just a friendly reminder - John had a feeling Sherlock was gay  **the day**   **he met him**. A day before the “You don’t have a girlfriend, then?” conversation at Angelo’s.

Behold the comments on the blogpost about his meeting with Sherlock on the 29th of January.

John might not be a genius, but he is a very intelligent, savvy man. He wasn’t just making small talk at dinner, he knew very well what he was doing - he was testing his hypothesis.

And what would you know? Girlfriends were not really Sherlock’s area.


	2. About Harry Watson

Today I decided to talk a bit about Harry Watson.

It’s funny how someone who we haven’t met in the show (yet!) has such an important role in the blog. I would say that she is, along with Sherlock, responsible for the majority of the comments on the blog.

 

 **1)** Let me just start by saying that I realized that she is John’s younger sister. Considering that John (like Martin) was born in 1971, he was 39 in 2010, when he and Sherlock met. Harry is apparently 36 at that time.

 

 **2)** In the first posts (pre 29th of January), she is repeatedly trying to reach out to John. Just like Sherlock later deduces  _“He gave the phone to you: that says he wants you to stay in touch.”_

__  


__

 

 **3)** It’s also interesting to know that Harry is surprised to learn that John was a womanizer before he was deployed to Afganistan. This implies **a)**  that the siblings haven’t been close for some time (years? ever?) and that  **b)**  John hadn’t always been the smooth lady’s man we know today (curious and curiouser). 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! I would love to hear your thoughts!


	3. My New Flatmate

Today we’ll look at the blog posts relative to ASIP.

 

Although the episode spans only two days (January 29th and 30th), John writes 4 blog posts relative to the case. Since I’ve talked a bit about the first post in my first entry, lets look at the other ones.

 

  1. **_31st January, My new flatmate_**



This entry is posted the day after the newly minted duo finishes their first case. John is excited to  ~~gush~~  write about his new life and his new flatmate.

The other interesting thing about this post is that they did go to the chinese restaurant Sherlock had suggested at the end of the episode.

Oh, this bit is so meta. We can almost hear the higher powers, all the critics and all the experts, speaking through that fortune. “It’s all been done before”, this formula has been done and repeated, this will be nothing new. John, our author, begs to differ.

In the comments, Harry and Ella are panicking, worried about John’s safety. They have been the most invested on John’s well-being in the previous entries and now they are out of the loop. Mike, on the other hand, is completely unfazed by the news…

It’s interesting to know that John wouldn’t pick up his phone all through the day and only answered his sister and therapist’s worried comments in the afternoon. Afterwards, he continued to not pick up hisphone ~~. What was he doing? Could we employ the phone=heart metaphor here?~~


	4. A Study in Pink II

Continuing our reading of the posts relative to ASIP, we have:

 

2 .  _ **February 1st, Secret Code**_

There isn’t much to say about this one. It was posted two days after the events of ASIP and John mentions he is still writing up the case for the blog. He decides to make a post because Sherlock has received a secret message on his own website  **The Science of Deduction**  ( _which is now down.  I just found out that[@sherlock](https://tmblr.co/mGCHCCsNhYtVPaZ_b7Fz-EQ) has backed up the site and John’s blog [here](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fgaysherlock.co.vu%2Fpost%2F184786277796%2Fupdate&t=NjJiODVmZDM5MzZhNTIzNDBmMzQ1MjVjNjY3NDQyZThlOTcyY2M3NixQSjl5ckhIUA%3D%3D&b=t%3AyXSXYnuXPiqU8VL6vjEgoQ&p=https%3A%2F%2Fthepersianslipper.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F184747178663%2Fthe-persian-slipper-reads-the-blog&m=1))_ and links to it. 

I have been following the series since 2011, so I remember that this link would take us to Sherlock’s website and show us some coded messages that we could try and solve. This message in particular was something vaguely threatening written in [Caesar cipher](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fcryptii.com%2Fpipes%2Fcaesar-cipher&t=YTg2Yjk4YjJlNjk0YjBjMjYwMGU0YzEyMThiMWVkOTNmMjIzMjViMCxQSjl5ckhIUA%3D%3D&b=t%3AyXSXYnuXPiqU8VL6vjEgoQ&p=https%3A%2F%2Fthepersianslipper.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F184747178663%2Fthe-persian-slipper-reads-the-blog&m=1). Does anyone remember what it was?

 

3. _**February 7th, A Study in Pink**_

Ah… Here we are, the first actual case in John’s blog! Here he mentions he blacked out some names and places for legal matters, but, because we watched the episode, we can see that he changed the narrative a bit to save his own ass (which is totally understandable, considering the events).

He starts by briefly describing his meeting with Sherlock and what he has learned about the man himself. This is the bit that has Sherlock in a snit and provoques the ensuing domestic in the beginning of TGG. People who have read “A Study in Scarlet” will get the reference.

John then goes on to describe the case, blacking out Lestrade’s name and the place where they found the pink lady. Then he goes on a slightly disturbing tangent.

John had totally bought the “sociopath” act at this point. He is completely fascinated with Sherlock, but sees him as a willful child, incapable of empathy  and unwilling to follow society’s rules. 

He continues to describe the case and, as a sensible person, completely erases Mycroft from the narrative. What is not so sensible is that John puts himself in the scene of Hope’s murder. I don’t know about you, but if I were John I would just say “I drove after Sherlock and when I arrived the police was already there. The taxi driver had been shot!”. John, on the other hand, writes:

It wouldn’t take a very smart police officer to assume John was the shooter. He admits to having seen Sherlock and Hope with the pills and to have seen Hope getting shot. That could only have been done if he were on the next building, and there was a _bullet whole in the window._  

This, and the fact that Sherlock starts to deduce the identity of the shooter makes me believe that  _ **Lestrade knows that John killed Hope**. _I don’t know the first thing about making gifs, but if you watch the “shock blanket” scene, you will notice that Lestrade gives a knowing little smile after Sherlock describes the shooter, backtracks and excuses himself to go talk to John.

John ends the post up at the end of the episode, again not mentioning their encounter with Mycroft but deciding to mention the name of Sherlock’s mysterious arch-enemy. And again he compares Sherlock to a child… John, you know I love you, but please stop doing that.


	5. A Study in Pink III

Let’s wrap the discussion of the ASIP posts by looking at the comments of the [first “proper” case posted on John’s blog](https://www.tumblr.com/search/the+persian+slipper+reads+the+blog) \- A Study in Pink, posted on the 7th of February.

 

**1\. Harry Watson, number one fan**

Say what you want about Harry, but you have to admit she is always there to comment enthusiastically on each of her brother’s posts. And she’s a potty mouth, much like her brother (or at least that’s what my headcanon says).

 

**2\. Something about John we didn't know**

STOP THE PRESSES!!!  _ **JOHN was given a medal!!!**_  I want to know more about this, dammit! 

Unfortunately none of the characters respond to this comment, so we have nothing else to go on… Interesting nugget of information, nonetheless.

 

**3\. Some new players**

There are a some new characters commenting on this post, as the blog grows increasingly popular. We have  **Molly**  and  **Sally**  being their usual selves; a user named  **Anonymous** , which we can assume is Moriarty (I’ll talk more about this in a future post, just take my word for it for now…)

 

Another mysterious user named **theimprobableone,** who introduces himself as an “expert on sherlock holmes” and is all around creepy. He thinks he would do a better job than John and is disdainful of “society”. This could be Mycroft, but I’m not sure if Mr MI6/CIA/British government has the time to troll John’s blog.

 

We also have  **Sherlock**  and  **Mrs Hudson**  commenting for the first time, but I’ll give them their own section.

 

**4\. Mrs Hudson and the Internet (part 1)**

This one is just precious. This post marks the beginning of a side story about Mrs Hudson and new technologies that will carry on in the next posts.

In a very meta way, Mrs Hudson, who doesn’t have a computer, uses Mrs Turner’s computer to log in to John’s blog. She is also using Mrs Turner’s account, so every comment that she makes is signed as ‘Marie Turner’.

In a completely extra touch, she adds that one of Mrs Turner’s lodgers (the married ones, remember?) is trying to get her to join Facebook.

 

**5\. Sherlock's first comment, or maybe not**

If you are reading the blog in order, this is the first post Sherlock leaves a comment on. But if you pay attention to the time stamp, you see this is not the first time he comments. He’s probably not reading the posts in chronological order. In fact, he comments a month an a half after the case was posted.

 

So, when was Sherlock’s first post? We have to fast forward into TBB territory, to the 23rd of March. 

 

He responds to both of John’s posts on that day (which we can place at the beginning of TBB), and only goes back to read the case post of the 7th of February after reading the case post about The Blind Banker on the 28th of March.

In both cases, Sherlock is very critical of John’s writing. He argues that the posts should be scientific and analytical in nature, focusing on logic and his deductive reasoning. But he kind of gives away his game with the hissy fit he throws at the beginning of TGG. He isn’t bothered about John’s tendency to romanticize their adventures, at least not too much. [He is bothered that John has called him “spectacularly ignorant”.](https://thepersianslipper.tumblr.com/post/184747178663/the-persian-slipper-reads-the-blog) I can just imagine him growing more and more outraged while reading TBB post, writing and angry comment, going back to ASIP post to see what else John wrote about their cases and just losing it.

 

**6\. The Timeline**

By now, we can start constructing some sort of timeline for the show using the posts and the comments:

 **14th December -** John starts writing a blog. He may have returned to the UK recently and started therapy.

 **29th January -** John and Sherlock meet for the first time. 

 **30th January**  - Sherlock shows Baker Street to John, the rest of the ASIP episode happens on the same day.

 **7th February -** John posts the ASIP case.

 **23rd March -**  TBB episode starts.


	6. The Blind Banker

On our last episode, I wrapped up the blog posts concerning ASIP, so it’s time for  ~~nobody’s favorite episode~~ , TBB!

Like in ASIP, John writes 4 posts relative to TBB. Here they are:

 

This episode spans a total of 5 days (March 23rd to 27th). Today we will look at the first two entries.

This is one of those instances where it really pays out to read John’s blog. Besides reading this delightfully domestic exchange, you are gifted with the information that our boys actually did a Bond movie night.

**1- Diamonds are forever**

First thing’s first. Both  **Diamonds are forever**  and **A rant** are posted on the same day. Looking at what John wrote and the timestamps on the comments, I would say that John posted both entries on the afternoon of the 23rd of March, after they found the body of Eddie Van Coon.

This entry (as well as the next one) is very short.

 

The ”diamond” he is referring to is the Jaria diamond, a missing jewel case that Sherlock did not to take (or so he says) and that should explain the masked assassin he is fighting at the beginning of the episode. 

Why he decided to not mention the assassin to John is unclear, but there is a [TJLC theory](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DPZI_OX1Kwo0%26list%3DPL-TcTV244YQvdJOeiMMBrfFu_sz3Ux_9w%26index%3D3&t=YWE5ZjE0ZDA4OTFjMDI0ZGJkNDJkYzAzMjU5ZGJkOTcxZjMxNWNkNyxPVmh2ZlpTMA%3D%3D&b=t%3AyXSXYnuXPiqU8VL6vjEgoQ&p=https%3A%2F%2Fthepersianslipper.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F185212521833%2Fthe-persian-slipper-reads-the-blog&m=1) that says that Sherlock is purposefully winding up John and cutting him off from cases to get him frustrated enough to make some sort of move. He is making the adrenaline junkie go through a dry spell after giving him a taste on excitement on ASIB. He eventually aquiesces to taking John to see Sebastian, probably because he wants to show Seb that he has a  _friend_ , now.

The body John’s referring to is Eddie Van Coon, the first death in TBB. After finding the banker dead at his flat and going back to talk to Sebastian, the boys go back home and John types this first post and the next one a few minutes later. Because the time stamps on both entries overlap, I’ve given them their own section.

 

**2 - A rant**

On this second post, John vents a bit about his memorable row with the chip-and-pin machine at the start of the episode. Again, nothing too exciting about this post. It only drives home John’s grumpy, frustrated mood that he decides to complain on the interwebs about an annoyance he had that morning, despite having started a new possible murder case that very same day.

 

**3 - The Comments - Bond Night and Pet peeves**

The fun of these two blog entries lie on the comments. Remember that John and Sherlock got back home after being hired by Seb and finding Van Coon’s body. They have a potential murder case on their hands. The boys get back home and John goes to his room and types up both entries. I’ll go through the comments in chronological order.

Like I mentioned in [my last post](https://thepersianslipper.tumblr.com/post/184999874878/the-persian-slipper-reads-the-blog), this is the first time Sherlock actually comments on John’s blog. If you look at this through TJLC glasses, maybe you can see that Sherlock, who is more than a little intrigued by John, decides to have a look around his blog and makes a seemingly irrelevant comment on his latest post. I say irrelevant because he doesn’t make any reference to neither of the cases John has just mentioned… Guys, he’s flirting…

John takes the bait and suggests a Bond night. Yes, this is canon.

Look at the time John takes to reply to that first comment. It’s probably because he is busy typing that next entry  **A rant.** The usual people comment on  **A rant**. Again, Harry is the first to contribute to her brother’s posts. From her text, I assume she is trying to stop drinking again. 

Let’s go back to the boys on  **Diamonds are forever.**  John has just suggested a Bond movie night and Sherlock finds a way to have that sooner rather than later by threatening John’s beer cans. The comment thread is so domestic it makes my heart cry,

On the other comment thread, people are still sharing their pet peeves. Molly says something interesting, but I’ll get to that another time. Just notice how she mentions Connie Prince, the fashion guru that is murdered by her brother’s lover on TGG. Mrs Hudson is still borrowing Mrs Turner computer and complains about the sword mark the assassin left on her kitchen table that morning. Mrs Hudson is paying attention to her property!

Sally and the mysterious theimprobableone add their two cents. Sherlock ends the discussion two hours after John comes downstairs with a resounding “ _shut up now with your petty problems, I’m having a movie night with Jawn._  “

The ever present shadow of Moriarty (Anonymous) looms. This last bit makes me wonder… Has Moriarty already set up his surveillance system on 221B? Is he already watching Sherlock and John?

 


	7. The Blind Banker II

Let’s wrap up TBB.

As you can read in my previous post, John posts 4 entries relative to TBB (March 23rd to 28th). This time we’ll look at the last two.

 

**1 - FYI**

The case has been solved the previous night and today the boys went back to the bank to collect their paycheck. John is preparing to write up their second case, but first he is giving us a little teaser.

\- “This is me”  ~~stock photo of me looking cool~~ , 

\- “This is Sherlock”  ~~candid photo of Sherlock looking mysterious with the light totally not highlighting his cheeckbones, he’s so handsome.~~

I can’t remember what was John’s profile picture after ASIP, but I think it was Sherlock’s picture… Can someone remember? 

For the people who joined the fandom a little later, I think it’s important to mention that the blog did change a bit between the episodes. Not only did new posts appear, they would also be edited. Sometimes the features on the right column would change, like John’s profile pic, or the hit counter (present during ASIB), etc.

 

**2 - The Blind Banker**

John posts this on the 28th, a day after they collect their payment at the bank.

The post is a more or less straightforward description of the episode, so I won’t go into much detail about it.

The really interesting bit IMO is the last paragraphs of John’s post.

James Bond [again.](https://thepersianslipper.tumblr.com/post/185212521833/the-persian-slipper-reads-the-blog).. John is coming down from the adrenalin high and is feeling like he’s in a super spy movie. The same super spy movies he and Sherlock had binge watched a few days before. 

Things suddenly take a much darker tone when John admits that he does enjoy this life he and Sherlock  _chose_ for themselves - he makes sure to stress that it was a conscious decision for him and for Sherlock.  He is aware that it  a dangerous life, made progressively more dangerous by the fame Sherlock is gaining (hello, TRF?). John fears for Sherlock and for the people that are close to them. Already, he is aware of an impending force looming over Sherlock and his world.

 

This last paragraph is particularly interesting for me because of John’s choice of words. Not only does he fear for Sherlock and everyone around them, he  _knows_ that there are forces, however abstract, determined to bring Sherlock down. It’s very much in line with John’s last scene in TBB. We can see that he is worried, that he is realizing that there is  _something, someone_ , watching them.

I can’t quite place the date of this last scene in 221b, can’t make out the date on Sherlock’s newspaper… Is this on the 28th? It would make sense because the timestamps in the comments are relatively early (around 13:00). I assume John wrote up the case after this breakfast scene.

 

**3 - The Comments**

There are a few interesting threads in the comments of  **The Blind Banker.**

_a) Harry and John_

Harry keeps trying to be involved in John’s life but he keeps holding back.

 

_b) Sherlock and John being domestic_

Sherlock is not a great fan of this case post [either](https://thepersianslipper.tumblr.com/post/184999874878/the-persian-slipper-reads-the-blog) and makes his opinion known again. Again, the domesticity is so pure it makes my heart cry. Harry is also a fellow shipper.

 

_c) Mrs Hudson and the Internet, part 2_

Mrs Hudson is still using Mrs Turner computer. We learn that she does Sherlock’s laundry… Not your housekeeper, huh?

 

_d) A looming threat_

I’ll delve into this in detail when I write about the sideblogs, but it’s important to note that Jim from IT has already approached Molly. John’s instinct was right, dark forces are closing in and he is clearly ill at ease.

 

_e) Going to Minsk_

Finally, I should mention Barry Berwick, the prisoner that tries to hire Sherlock in the opening of TGG. He contacts Sherlock and whatever he says, it’s enough to convince him to go talk to him in prison in Belarus. I just love it how the cases tie in each other (and how Sherlock bosses everyone around).

 

**4 - The Timeline**

It’s the end of another episode, so we can add to our timeline:

 **14th December -** John starts writing a blog. He may have returned to the UK recently and started therapy.

 **29th January -** John and Sherlock meet for the first time.

 **30th January**  - Sherlock shows Baker Street to John, the rest of the ASIP episode happens on the same day.

 **7th February -** John posts the ASIP case.

 **23rd March -**  TBB episode starts, John has a row with the chip-and-pin machine and they find Van Coon’s body. Lukis is killed that night.

 **24th March**  - John goes to his job interview, Soo Lin is killed that night.

 **26th March -** John takes Sarah to the Chinese circus, hijinks follow.

 **27th March (not confirmed)-** The case is wrapped and the guys go see Seb at the bank to collect their payment. 

 **28th March -** Last 221B scene in TBB, John writes up the case. Berwick contacts Sherlock. If the 22nd is a Monday (according to Van Coon’s schedule), it makes sense that Sherlock would be holding a copy of The Sunday Times on the 28th.

 


	8. The Great Game

After the Blind Banker case, we jump right into the post about The Great Game.

Unlike the other two previous episodes, there are no little sidenotes between bigger case posts. The boys are swept off their feet by this case and have no time do anything else. The timeframe is very short between the two posts. TGG probably started the same day TBB episode ended, or maybe the next, with only a 4 day gap between TBB and TGG posts. Still, John apologizes for the delay!

 

This is one of the entries that have been changed (again, does anyone know if there is a saved version of the deleted posts?). 

If I remember correctly, the post was much like what we see now, but it ended with John mentioning that they had hit a snag in their investigation and that the mysterious bomber seemed to have gone underground. He ends saying that since things were quiet for the moment, he was going to visit his girlfriend Sarah that evening. There were one or two comments by Sarah and Harry worriedly looking for John, who didn’t arrive at Sarah’s and wasn’t answering his phone.

For obvious reasons, this post was changed after ASIB aired, and is now the final version we can now read.

It’s a fairly long post describing the whole case. My intention isn’t to go into the whole description of the case but to point out some details I find relevant to understanding John’s mindset and to gain some added perspective to the overarching story.

 

**1\. John, the Blogger**

You can sense John’s excitement as he describes the case. He is settling in into his role as a blogger and he is a bit proud of his work.

No longer does he mention his [fear of looming dark forces ](https://thepersianslipper.tumblr.com/post/185874320383/the-persian-slipper-reads-the-blog)over Sherlock and everyone around them, made stronger by Sherlock’s growing fame, although he has just stared at them in the face. Is this the adrenalin high still speaking? Or is this pride getting in the way of reason?

 

**2\. Mycroft who?**

[Again](https://thepersianslipper.tumblr.com/post/184747178663/the-persian-slipper-reads-the-blog), he conveniently leaves out any part of the episode related to Mycroft (Andrew West’s body and the Bruce-Partington Plans). It makes sense for John to avoid writing anything about what can very well be secret state information. Mycroft is completely erased from the blog.

 

**3\. Don’t make people into heroes, John.**

Remember how angry John was in this scene?

He is frustrated that they haven’t caught the bomber yet, disappointed that Sherlock isn’t worried about the victims and perhaps a bit jealous that the bomber has engaged Sherlock’s attention in a way John feels he can’t compete with. That shows through in the way that he describes Sherlock’s actions through the case.

  
  


Ouch… Remember, this was written after most of the case was done (just before the pool scene). And John could have edited the rest of the post when he added the last part about the pool scene. But he decided to keep this. And it’s still there for Sherlock to read.

 

**4\. The Pool Scene**

I think this is the most interesting part about this post, because tells you what happen to John between the time he leaves 221B to go to Sarah’s and the time he walks out before Sherlock at the pool, wrapped in explosives.

John is mollified by Sherlock’s reaction to seeing him. He realizes that Sherlock does care about him ( ~~duh, John~~ ) and is not some cold blooded machine. But I think there is still a measure of caution in John’s words. He says that Sherlock does care, despite himself. He values their friendship, but he still lashes out and calls him a freak.

I think he is still very much afraid that Sherlock will turn into an automaton, and I think this is partially because of John’s low self-esteem. He still thinks his friendship and what they have accomplished together won’t be enough to keep Sherlock away from Moriarty’s dark call (as we will see again in TRF).

 

**5\. Jim Moriarty**

Look at how John describes the showdown between Sherlock and Moriarty. Sherlock and Moriarty, polar opposites, but very much alike. Each one with their own assistant, their John Watson ( ~~Hi Mary!~~ ),  pleased to be meeting face to face, absorbed in their game. And John, a pawn, feeling like a disposable asset. 

It’s incredible how he downplays his actions (who were nothing short of heroic). How he still doubts Sherlock’s dedication to him. Has he heard nothing of what Moriarty told Sherlock??

 

**6\. The Phone Call**

On a lighter note, this bit just makes me giggle.

We held our breaths for months too, Jawn.

 


End file.
